Greek submarine Katsonis (Υ-1)
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Y-1 Katsonis - Y-1 Κατσώνης |
|
| Career (Greece) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Lambros Katsonis |
| Builder: | Gironde Bordeaux shipyards |
| Laid down: | 1925 |
| Launched: | 1927 |
| Commissioned: | 8 June 1928 |
| Fate: | Sunk 14 September 1943 |
| Notes: | Historical summary from the Hellenic Navy website |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | surfaced: 576 tons submerged: 775 tons |
| Length: | 62.5 m |
| Beam: | 5.3 |
| Draft: | 3.6 m |
| Propulsion: | one 1,300 hp diesel engine, one 1,000 hp electric engine |
| Speed: | surfaced: 14 knots submerged: 9 knots |
| Complement: | 30 |
| Armament: | 2×21-inch (533 mm) internal bow T/T, 2×21-inch (533 mm) external bow T/T, 2×21-inch (533 mm) external stern T/T, 1×100 mm gun, 2 MGs |
Y-1 Katsonis (Greek: Y-1 Κατσώνης) was a Greek submarine active during the Second World War.
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[edit] History
Katsonis, together with its sister ship, Papanikolis (Υ-2), formed the first class of Greek submarines ordered after the First World War. It was built at the Gironde Bordeaux shipyards between 1925-27, and commissioned into the Hellenic Navy on 8 June 1928. Its first captain was Cdr Κ. Arvanitis.[1] Under the command of Cdr Athanasios Spanidis, she participated in the 1940-41 Greco-Italian War, carrying out four war patrols, and sinking one vessel, the 531-ton Italian freighter Quinto, on December 31, 1940. After the German invasion of April 1941, together with the rest of the fleet, Katsonis fled to the Middle East, from where she would operate during the next years, with the British pennant number N 16. On 2 July 1942, she was damaged while exiting a dry dock at Port Said.
After overhaul, under the command of Cdr. Vasileios Laskos, she went on further four patrols in the Aegean. During these patrols, Katsonis ambushed and sunk a German minelayer in the port of Gytheio on 2 April 1943, the Spanish 1,500-ton merchant vessel San Isidoro off Kythnos three days later, and the freighter Rigel near Skiathos on 29 May.[2] On September 14 however, while trying to intercept a German troop transport, she was attacked and sunk by the German submarine chaser UJ-2101. 32 men of the crew, including Cdr Laskos, went down with her, and 15 were captured. However, Lt Eleftherios Tsoukalas, the ship's XO, and petty officers Antonios Antoniou and Anastasios Tsigros, managed to swim for 9 hours and reach Skiathos. There they hid and eventually managed to return to Egypt and rejoin the Greek fleet.[3]
[edit] Tradition
The submarine was named after the 18th century Greek naval hero, admiral Lambros Katsonis. The name "Katsonis" has been given to two other Infobox Ships, the Tench class submarine Katsonis II (S-115), and the modern Type 214 submarine Katsonis III (S-123).
[edit] References
- ^ (Greek) Greek submarines: 110 years of history from the ΠΤΗΣΗ magazine, issue 135, May 1996
- ^ (Greek) The Greek submarines in World War II, by Cdre (ret.) N. Damvergis
- ^ Historical summary from the Hellenic Navy website
